Missing out on events

Late Thursday night I returned to Kolkata from Rajasthan. Apart from meeting Mayor Shovan Chatterjee at the Kolkata Municipal Corporation, I was neck deep in office work the whole day and even till late night at my office. Lots of work that had piled during my absence needed to be cleared. I also had to respond to the numerous invitations for various events and functions sent to me. Soon I will be out on overseas tour for about a month.

I missed the inaugural function of the Kolkata Film Festival, the premiere of Notobar Not Out held at the Chowringhee Banquet at Bishop Lefroy Road in which Raima Sen and Moon Moon have acted together and directed by Amit Sen. I will also miss the whole session of the Kolkata Film Festival and many other interesting events in the coming weeks. I have been very closely associated with the film festival and also been hosting the Farewell Party year after year that is held on November 17th. Last year (2009) there were no farewell parties because of the management’s decision to trim expenses.

The 2008 Film Festival Farewell Party that I had organised at the ITC Sonar Bangla was a memorable one having recorded over 5500 footfalls and is etched in the memories of many people for being one of the most-attended parties in Kolkata (picture). At that time, the parking area to the hotel’s golf course and of course the whole area christened Sunderbans at the ITC Hotel was used for the party. Now, with the construction of a new structure at that spot, organising such a huge parties in the future spread over sprawling venue wouldn’t be possible.

This year I received a request from Nandan to host a farewell party on the 17th again this year. But I had to excuse myself this time as I would not be in Kolkata. In fact, I’ll be attending an important meeting in the United States. Also, I did not want to organise a party in haste.

Having organised and hosted different types of parties in the city, I feel that the people attribute and expect a certain high standard from me for which it is essential to work out things well in advance. Had Nandan decided on this earlier, it would have been my proud privilege to organise it.

I will also miss tomorrow’s morning walk by on diabetes awareness to mark the World Diabetes Day at Victoria to be lead by Police Commissioner, Gautam Mohan Chakraborty and to be joined in by Rituparna along with Harsh Neotia. At Deshapriya Park, Saurabh Ganguly would be leading the walk. Pronam members are participating in both the walks.

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